HC slams CBI for tardiness in Adarsh missing files case

Expressing displeasure over CBI's inaction in the probe into the Adarsh Society missing files case, the Bombay high court today directed the agency to speed up its investigation and show some "results".

Expressing displeasure over CBI's inaction in the probe into the Adarsh Society missing files case, the Bombay high court on Wednesday directed the agency to speed up its investigation and show some "results".

"We are very displeased. You (CBI) please do the investigations properly and get results. Reasons like officers are busy cannot be accepted," a division bench of justices Ranjana Desai and R V More remarked, while hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by one Mahendra Singh.

The court also expressed anger over the fact that four accused got bail, as the CBI did not file its charge sheet on time.

The court's remarks came when CBI counsel D N Salvi informed that certain hard disks seized from the office of the urban development department in Mantralaya, from where the files went missing, are yet to be sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) in Hyderabad.

According to CBI, while duplicates of the certain pages have been found, probe is still on to find out the missing notesheets pertaining to Adarsh Society.

"The notesheets were typed in some computers, the hard disks of which have been seized with a view to retrieve the material," Salvi said. "Why have the hard disks not been sent yet to FSL if they were seized a month back? Usually the delay happens at the FSL's end but in this case the investigating agency itself is delaying. This is the reason why you (CBI) have not been able to file the chargesheet on time thus resulting in the four arrested accused getting bail," justice Desai remarked.

The court recorded Salvi’s statement that CBI would send the hard disks to FSL in a week.

"We expect CBI to ensure that the FSL report is obtained as expeditiously as possible. Each step should be taken properly by the investigating agency in such cases," the bench observed.